Taxi industry inquiry
Inquiry activities since the Draft Report
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- Further work undertaken by the inquiry
Inquiry activities since the Draft ReportThe inquiry’s Draft Report Customers First: Service, Safety, Choice, was released on 31 May 2012 for public consultation and comment.
In some areas, the inquiry’s draft recommendations gave a clear indication of the inquiry's thinking; in other areas, the inquiry sought further data, information and comment before settling on a final position. The inquiry invited formal submissions on its draft recommendations, as well as encouraging comments on any issues and options covered in the draft recommendations or related to the inquiry’s Terms of Reference. The inquiry also published and distributed an online template that allowed respondents to indicate their support for or opposition to the draft recommendations. Submissions were received by the inquiry between 31 May and 13 July 2012. Submissions could be provided to the inquiry online or forwarded by email or mail in electronic, paper, audio or video formats. Guidelines on making a submission were published on the inquiry’s website. In line with the inquiry’s commitment to transparency and openness, all submissions received were considered public and posted on the inquiry’s website (confidential submissions were not accepted or considered by the inquiry) . Organisations or individuals who provided a submission to the inquiry by the required date were able to register an interest in speaking to their submission at inquiry hearings. These hearings were held on 13 and 14 August 2012 at which 26 presentations were made by stakeholders. The inquiry determined which parties were invited to make submissions at the hearings. All hearing sessions were streamed live via the inquiry’s website and video recordings and written transcripts of proceedings were made also made available through the website. The inquiry received a total of 1,370 submissions following the release of its Draft Report: 150 submissions were received from organisations and companies, with the balance coming from individuals. Submissions were received in the online template provided by the inquiry, in emails and letters. The number and format of submissions received is summarised in Table 1. There is some duplication of submissions as some industry participants provided a submission in all three formats. All public submissions are available at the inquiry’s website. Table 1 Number of submissions received (by format)
Table 2 sets out the composition of responses by category of stakeholder, showing a strong response from businesses in the taxi and hire car industry. Table 2 Composition of submissions received (by stakeholder category)
The inquiry received an influx of online and email submissions from licence holders in the final week of the consultation period following a meeting of industry participants organised by the Victorian Taxi Association (VTA) and Taxi Industry Stakeholders Victoria (TISV).10 In addition to submissions from individuals and organisations, the inquiry also received a petition organised by TISV signed by 1,171 persons. The inquiry met directly with key stakeholders to discuss its draft recommendations during the period between the release of the Draft Report and the completion of the Final Report. The inquiry also attended a forum co-hosted by the Disability Advocacy Resource Unit (DARU) and VCOSS in July 2012 to hear feedback on the Draft Report from taxi users with a disability.
The inquiry has refined and modified a number of its draft recommendations to take into account new information provided through submissions and consultations since the release of the Draft Report. In some instances, this has required the inquiry to conduct further research and analysis or to seek additional data and information from the industry and the regulator. Key further work has included: Identifying the impacts of reform on affected groups (see chapter 16) Developing a path of transition for the industry from the old regime to the new (chapter 17) Further modelling of the effects of licensing reform and of changes in driver remuneration to ensure that the reforms are affordable to taxi operators and beneficial for consumers (Annex).
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